Bigmoose - great coffee served with social good

by Startacus Admin

Bigmoose Coffee Co. - The Welsh coffee shop that's on a mission to help the homeless and vulnerable in Cardiff

We have written previously about startups helping the homeless get into work, with the likes of Beam and TAP. With around 280,000 homeless people in the UK alone, homelessness is a big issue (no pun intended) that needs to be addressed, and more and more startups are appearing to do just that. Whether it’s driving around a bus with showers, giving free haircuts, or helping homeless people get back into work, startups are leading the way in tackling the problem of homelessness.

Welsh father-daughter operation Bigmoose Coffee Co. is one such startup. In 2010, Jeff and Chloe Smith climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, raising £15k and also marking the beginning of their charitable journey.

For two years, they took tea and coffee to homeless people around Cardiff. Over time, they also persuaded local restaurants to make food to give them, hairdressers to give free haircuts to them, and also collected clothing and bedding. Still feeling like they weren’t doing all they could, they next came up with the idea for a coffee shop.

The coffee shop works with Welsh homeless charity, Llamau, using its profits to help the homeless and other disadvantaged people to get back into work. One way in which they do this is by taking on homeless people as staff to train, mentor, and support them, while paying them a wage until they are able to move on to another job.

Bigmoose found their premises in the centre of Cardiff and got it ready to go mainly thanks to voluntary work from local builders, plumbers, painters, and the like as well as anonymous donations of furniture from a restaurant chain, and over 400 volunteers.